Electromagnetic (EM) geophysical surveying includes “natural source” and “controlled source” EM surveying. Natural source EM surveying includes receiving electric and/or magnetic field signals at multi-component ocean bottom receiver stations, and by taking the ratio of perpendicular field components of the signals, one can eliminate the need to know the natural source. Hereto, marine natural source EM surveying has been restricted to autonomous recording stations.
Controlled source EM surveying includes imparting an electric field or a magnetic field into the Earth formations, those formations being below the sea floor in marine surveys, and measuring electric field amplitude and/or amplitude of magnetic fields by measuring voltage differences induced in electrodes, antennas and/or interrogating magnetometers disposed at the Earth's surface, or on or above the sea floor. The electric and/or magnetic fields are induced in response to the electric field and/or magnetic field imparted into the Earth's subsurface, and inferences about the spatial distribution of conductivity of the Earth's subsurface are made from recordings of the induced electric and/or magnetic fields.
Controlled source EM surveying known in the art includes imparting alternating electric current into formations below the sea floor. In frequency controlled source EM (f-CSEM) surveying, the alternating current has one or more selected frequencies. F-CSEM surveying techniques are described, for example, in Sinha, M. C. Patel, P. D., Unsworth, M. J., Owen, T. R. E., and MacCormack, M. G. R., 1990, An active source electromagnetic sounding system for marine use, Marine Geophysical Research, 12, 29-68. Other publications that describe the physics of and the interpretation of electromagnetic subsurface surveying include: Edwards, R. N., Law, L. K., Wolfgram, P. A., Nobes, D. C., Bone, M. N., Trigg, D. F., and DeLaurier, J. M., 1985, First results of the MOSES experiment: Sea sediment conductivity and thickness determination, Bute Inlet, British Columbia, by magnetometric offshore electrical sounding: Geophysics 50, No. 1, 153-160; Edwards, R. N., 1997, On the resource evaluation of marine gas hydrate deposits using the sea-floor transient electric dipole-dipole method: Geophysics, 62, No. 1, 63-74; Chave, A. D., Constable, S. C. and Edwards, R. N., 1991, Electrical exploration methods for the seafloor: Investigation in geophysics No 3, Electromagnetic methods in applied geophysics, vol. 2, application, part B, 931-966; and Cheesman, S. J., Edwards, R. N., and Chave, A. D., 1987, On the theory of sea-floor conductivity mapping using transient electromagnetic systems: Geophysics, 52, No. 2, 204-217.
In a typical f-CSEM marine survey, a recording vessel includes cables that connect to electrodes disposed near the sea floor. An electric power source on the vessel charges the electrodes such that a selected magnitude of alternating current, of selected frequency or frequencies, flows through the sea floor and into the Earth formations below the sea floor. At a selected distance (“offset”) from the source electrodes, receiver electrodes are disposed on the sea floor and are coupled to a voltage measuring circuit, which may be disposed on the vessel or a different vessel. The voltages imparted into the receiver electrodes are then analyzed to infer the structure and electrical properties of the Earth formations in the subsurface.
Another technique for EM surveying of subsurface Earth formations known in the art is transient controlled source EM surveying (t-CSEM). In t-CSEM, electric current is imparted into the Earth at the Earth's surface (or sea floor), in a manner similar to f-CSEM. The electric current may be direct current (DC). At a selected time, the electric current is switched off, switched on, or has its polarity changed, and induced voltages and/or magnetic fields are measured, typically with respect to time over a selected time interval, at the Earth's surface or water surface. Alternative switching strategies are possible; as will be explained in more detail below. Structure of the subsurface is inferred by the time distribution of the induced voltages and/or magnetic fields. T-CSEM techniques are described, for example, in Strack, K.-M., 1992, Exploration with deep transient electromagnetics, Elsevier, 373 pp. (reprinted 1999).
Marine EM geophysical surveying typically involves deploying a plurality of multi-component acquisition apparatus on a water bottom. Each multi-component acquisition apparatus may include one or more sensors for receiving EM signals produced during surveying of the subsurface below the water bottom and electronics for recording the EM signals received at the sensor(s). Typically, before the multi-component acquisition apparatus are deployed, the electric field (E-field) recording of each multi-component acquisition apparatus is tested to ensure that the apparatus can record an E-field accurately. After the multi-component acquisition apparatus is deployed, it is also desirable to test the E-field recording of the apparatus again in order to ensure that the EM survey to be conducted using the apparatus would be reliable.